


Teenage Soldier

by rainforestgeek



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A little, Abortion, Aged Up, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Discussion of Abortion, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22593019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainforestgeek/pseuds/rainforestgeek
Summary: After running some medical tests to find out why she'd been feeling so weird, Coran tells Pidge that she's pregnant. It takes a minute for it to sink in.They're not ready. They're kids fighting a war. She's only sixteen. She knows what to do.She doesn't know how to handle it - especially her sensitive boyfriend.
Relationships: Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	Teenage Soldier

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not starting a debate here, I'm telling a story. All pro-life comments will be promptly deleted. All comments trying to pick a fight will be promptly deleted.

Pidge’s brain crashed. Just suddenly froze, shut down, and went black. Whirred slightly, rebooted. As her mind came back online, her first new thought was a single word.

_Fuck._

“Number Five? Are you okay?” Coran gently waved a gloved hand in front of her face.

“Is…” Pidge’s voice felt strange in her throat. “Coran, is there any chance these results are a mistake?”

“None, I’m afraid. Oh, please sit yourself down, Pidge, you don’t seem steady on your feet.” He guided her into one of the few chairs in the medical bay. “Human physiology is remarkably similar many other species, so I assure you I’ve grasped the results quite reliably.”

“But – ”

“I had the pod do a full body diagnostic six times. There is no doubt – you’re in the early stages of gestating offspring.”

Despite her shock, Pidge peevishly informed Coran the human term was ‘pregnant;’ but hearing herself say the word hit her like a ton of bricks. Pregnant. Pidge was fucking _pregnant._ She buried her face in her hands and curled into as tight a ball as she could. There was nothing about the situation that didn’t suck.

“Did you tell Lance?” she mumbled.

“By the ancients, no,” Coran declared. “You’re the one gest – pregnant and should accordingly know first! What sort of disreputable medic would I be to go chattering about someone’s private medical busines?”

Pidge grasped onto the familiarity of Coran’s drama and used it to ground herself. This was normal, reassurance that the universe hadn’t suddenly abandoned its laws and patterns. All that had changed was…

“I can’t have a _baby_ , Coran. I’m only sixteen.”

“That’s a rather young age for your species to reproduce, yes?”

“I’m a paladin of Voltron! We have a universe to defend! We’re too young, too busy…”

This was never a conversation Pidge wanted or expected to have. For one, teenage pregnancy had _never_ been on her radar as a real risk for someone as reserved as she was. And she had no idea how Coran would react. She could be callous at the best of times and she had no idea what kinds of Altean customs and taboos she was about to blunder across.

“On Earth…if someone isn’t ready to have a kid, it’s common to get a doctor – physician – to terminate their pregnancy.” She paused to gauge his reaction but was met with silence. “Obviously the embryo dies and we only do it before it’s developed to a certain point – and a lot of people don’t like it – but is there any way you can – will you help me…stop this?”

Quite unexpectedly, Coran wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a firm but tender hug. The unusual display of affection surprised her. “I understand. Especially given your circumstances. So if you’re completely certain, I can abort it for you tomorrow.”

A rush of painful relief washed over Pidge like a hot shower. “I’m sure. Why can’t we do it today? I won’t change my mind.”

“You’ve already had quite the shock, Pidge. I want you to adjust to this before adding on another one. Trust me.”

Pidge nodded. She spent the rest of the day locked in her room, building robots and trying hard to empty her mind of everything.

* * *

“Would you like Lance to be here? For moral support?”

Her stomach clenched, and she tasted bile in her mouth. She shook her head.

Coran laid a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t want to push you, Pidge. However, I honestly think it’d be healthier for you if someone else were here to support you.”

Several beats of silence passed during which Pidge stared blankly at a silvery wall and tried not to think. Finally, in a low voice she requested, “Call Allura. Please.”

Ultimately Pidge was glad Allura was with her. The princess held her hand and stroked her hair. She helped Pidge walk back to her room, bathe, and settle into bed. Allura promised to run interference with the rest of the team and insisted that Pidge call her immediately if she had the slightest need, or the smallest discomfort.

“Coran is not the only Altean on this ship with medical training. We should go to him for an emergency, but I imagine you may be more comfortable with me for other things.” Allura’s use of the word ‘we’ made Pidge feel a little safer. She had someone on her side.

Allura got up to leave. “Get as much rest as you can.”

“Wake me up if there’s an attack.”

“Pidge – ” Allura broke off at her friend’s stern look. “I will if it becomes necessary. So sleep now while you can.” She left and the door swished shut.

Pidge wasn’t sure if Allura had been kidding around with that last comment. Nevertheless, she was _exhausted_ , and fell asleep within minutes.

The only thing the rest of the team knew was Pidge was sick and wanted to be left alone. This wasn’t an issue with Keith and Shiro. But Hunk’s nosy ass and Pidge’s fretful boyfriend were more difficult to keep away. Hunk pouted every time Allura sent him away. Meanwhile Lance gave in pretty quickly, and resigned himself to camping out in front of her door at night.

* * *

Pidge tried to forget it. She went back to her normal routine of training with the team, studying Altean, and sorting data. The Castle of Lions received a slew of data every day, with updates on weapons development, battle statistics, reports from various spies…it was a lot, so Pidge helped Allura organize it all with an algorithm that, unfortunately, needed constant tweaking. In the evenings she mostly hung out with Lance.

He had a way of making her feel better about the universe. More than anyone, he knew the need to take a quiznaking break and de-stress.

For the next several nights they mostly played video games. He was a formidable Killbot Phantasm opponent and he liked to tease her throughout the game while she shoved him back. A new tension had formed between them, though. Their first informal date night since the…thing…Pidge laid in bed with him for vargas, trying to go to sleep. Finally she got up and passed out in her own room. They were used to sharing a bed by now but she found she couldn’t rest with his breaths an body heat in the silence.

He’d asked her about it the next morning. “Hey, where’d you go last night?”

She’d shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep, so I went back to my room.”

He’d given her a good morning peck on the cheek then gone to get his breakfast.

Naturally, a galra battleship found them and attacked the Castle. It was far from their most grueling battle, but enough to make Pidge very, very annoyed. Blue took a couple of nasty hits that put her heart in her throat and she all but divebombed the fighters closing in on Lance.

Once it was all over, Shiro marched the galra commander they’d captured to the brig for future questioning. Keith and Allura went back to find anything useful on the remains of the ship. Pidge stood in front of her Lion, staring into the middle distance, helmet in hand, feeling exhausted.

She felt Lance give her a hug from behind. “You were amazing out there, Peach.” He kissed her cheek and she flinched away.

“Get off me!”

They stared at each other in shocked silence. Pidge’s outburst caught her off guard as much as it did Lance. Why had she done that? She was feeling overwhelmed from the battle and the touch was suddenly too much…

Pidge took his hand in hers. “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from. I think I just need to get some sleep.”

“Of course. Tomorrow’s another day.” He caught himself about to embrace her again, a flinch of muscle memory that hurt to watch.

They slept apart again that night.

* * *

Pidge heard shouting coming from the med bay.

“Hunk! Get out of that computer!” Lance.

“What if she’s dying? What if some alien parasite has latched itself to her central nervous system and mind controlling her?” Hunk’s words rushed out like they did when he was anxious.

“Coran said – ”

“HOLY QUIZNAK SHE WAS PREGNANT!”

Hunk’s outburst timed serendipitously with Pidge’s arrival in the doorway. All three of them froze. Lance stared at Hunk with his jaw on the floor while Hunk furiously read and re-read the console in front of him. Pidge’s entire body turned to ice.

Lance’s voice started working first. “Wh-what? Did you say _was_?”

Hunk nodded. “Was. As in not anymore, as in terminated.”

“ _What the quiznaking fuck is wrong with you?!_ ” Pidge roared. Both boys jumped in surprise. She stalked toward Hunk. “Those records are private!”

He raised his hands in surrender. “I thought you were dying.”

“Coran and Allura and I said stay out of it! It’s none of your business.”

“You…” said Lance in a small voice. Pidge’s gaze snapped to meet his. The expression of utter betrayal on his face felt like getting slammed by a truck. There were tears forming in his eyes.

She reached out for him. “Lance, I – ”

He brushed her hand aside and ran from the medical bay. Pidge turned to Hunk. “I’m going to snap you in half.” Hunk fled a lot faster, leaving Pidge alone at what her mind, unbidden, called ‘the scene of the crime.’ This was her worst nightmare coming true, from the moment Coran had delivered the news.

Allura brought Pidge food to eat in her quarters that evening, seeing as she wouldn’t step back out into the main Castle. To her surprise, Allura sat cross-legged on the floor with her and they both ate dinner there, together.

“Coran has Hunk scrubbing out all the lavatories,” she told Pidge. “After that he’ll spend the next movement cleaning and lubricating every filthy inch of the engine room.”

“Good,” Pidge said through her food. _He’s going to be miserable,_ she thought with vindictive satisfaction.

“You should know that everyone knows about your abortion, now. Hunk thought it appropriate to announce it at the dinner table.”

“That piece of – ”

“If it makes you feel any better, Keith gave him a good punch to the nose and Shiro has his own punishment in mind. They were very upset that he violated your privacy like that.”

“What about Lance?”

Allura gave her big sad, sympathetic eyes that made Pidge want to stab herself with a fork. “He’s been locked away in his room as well.”

Pidge expected the knock that came on her door that night. It was still a relief to hear Lance’s voice. “Katie? It’s me. We need to talk about what happened. Please.”

She didn’t hesitate to open the door. Her heart clenched when she saw his bloodshot eyes. The door shut behind him and they sat on her bed.

She waited for him to speak. He seemed to wait for her to speak.

Lance wasn’t meeting her eyes, just staring at his hands in his lap with his eyebrows scrunched together. He kept opening his mouth then closing it like he didn’t know what to say. Or like he was trying to choose his words carefully.

The tension could have been cut with a butter knife. She wanted it gone. She wanted Lance on her side again.

Finally, having had enough, Pidge muttered, “I didn’t have any better choice, Lance.”

“I know.”

“I can’t have a baby yet. Not out here. Not like this.”

“I know. It’s just…” He huffed a sharp sigh, then demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Hey!” she yelled everything inside her breaking loose. “You don’t get to be angry at me for this!”

“God, Katie, I’m not angry with you! I’m upset that you didn’t tell me!”

“What, so you could get the chance to talk me out of it? Pitch me the unlikely happy family and how wonderful babies are spiel? I didn’t have a choice, Lance!”

“That’s not the point!” Lance wiped the tears out of his eyes with his fist. His voice dropped several decibels. “I love you, Katie. I thought you trusted me.”

Pidge crossed her arms. “Of course I trust you.”

“It really doesn’t feel like it.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you! I didn’t…I couldn’t tell you I was pregnant and see the look in your eyes, that spark of ‘I’m gonna be a dad’ and then crush it. I wouldn’t…I couldn’t…I _could not do_ that to you.” Pidge sat back on her bed, facing the wall and away from Lance, furiously trying to stop the tears from coming.

As she shakily gasped in and out, eyes clenched shut, she felt the bed dip and lean arms wrap around her shoulders. Lance gripped Pidge tight to his body and the dam broke. Sobs ripped their way out of her and he pressed his lips to her temple as she cried.

“I’m so sorry, Pidge. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to comfort you. I’m sorry you went through this alone. Pidge, I would rather go through hell and back than ever leave you alone.” That made her cry even harder, so he pressed his lips to her temple and she held onto his arms around her chest. She felt his tears slipping off his cheeks and onto her neck.


End file.
